Nepal's Nirmal Purja climbs world's 14 highest peaks in 7 months

Nirmal Purja, a mountaineer from Nepal announced on October 29 that he has achieved the record for reaching the world's 14 highest peaks. Purja has claimed to climb the mountains, which make altogether, 8,000m (26,246 ft), in seven months. The earlier world record was of seven years, 11 months and 14 days. He posted his achievement after climbing Shishapangma - the final peak in his record-smashing climb. The post also mentions that he had the company of three climbers - Mingma David Sherpa, Galjen Sherpa, and Gesman Tamang - to complete his mission. 

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Nirmal Purja's "Project Possible 14/7"

Nirmal is a former Gurkha and Special Boat Service (SBS) soldier, an elite special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. Purja completed the first phase of his "Project Possible 14/7" confirming to have reached the first 7 summits of the 14 eight-thousanders he intends to conquer within 7 months: Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Mount Everest, and Nanga Parbat, on May 2019. He completed the second phase in July with climbing Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II, Mount K2, and Broad Peak. The third and last phase started in September 2019 when he climbed Cho Oyu on September 23, 2019, and Manaslu on September 27, 2019. 

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Purja is the photographer of Everest traffic jam

Nepali media states that Purja was also the person who took the viral photo of the traffic jam on Mt Everest. In the image, scores of climbers can be seen making attempts to climb the world's highest peak. As Nepali Government has set no limit on people climbing mountains, there have been loads of hobbyists and climbers climbing the mountain, reports said. MS Kohli, who led a team of nine mountaineers in the first successful Indian expedition to the summit in 1965 - a record that lasted for 17 years, was shocked to see the photo. He told the media that earlier people used to climb once in three years and now it seemed like a picnic.

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